Looking for an Experienced Opinion

[Eason]

I've been trying to get into photography for the last few years. Last year I bought a pretty nice Sony P&S to warm up to the idea of taking photos. Now that I'm starting to travel a lot, I'm prepared to take the next step forward in photography.

Considering I'm still a newbie, I wanted to keep things relatively simple for the camera body and focus my funds more on some nicer lenses. When I feel comfortable with my knowledge and understanding, I intend to upgrade the body. I played with both Canons and Nikons a lot and decided on Nikon. I find the quality of the photos to be about equal, but, I like the weight of the Nikon in my grip.

Now, I live in Japan and I have decided to make my first purchase a D90. It felt solid, took some nice pictures when I played with it in the store, and is at a great price. I've read up a lot that I should avoid getting a lens kit; however, I looked up on the three lens kits they had available. This is where I need some help...

I read a lot of negative things about the lens kit that is the D90 plus 18-105mm 3.5-5.6 VR lens. But I read some great reviews for the other two lenses. One being the 18-55mm 3.5-5.6 VR and the other being an 18-200mm 3.5-5.6 IF.

Just the body is roughly $1,000 w/tax included. The lens kit with the 18-55 is about $1,300 and the 18-200mm around $1,700. The price isn't an issue, I was looking to spend roughly $2,000 on my starting setup anyway. What would you all recommend?

Also, I'm looking to start acquiring more lenses after a couple months of familiarizing myself with the camera and getting more experience and education in photography. What other lenses would you recommend?

Thanks in advance! I look forward to sharing some (hopefully) nice pictures with everyone!

 

[Sherman Banks]

I've been trying to get into photography for the last few years. Last year I bought a pretty nice Sony P&S to warm up to the idea of taking photos. Now that I'm starting to travel a lot, I'm prepared to take the next step forward in photography.

Considering I'm still a newbie, I wanted to keep things relatively simple for the camera body and focus my funds more on some nicer lenses. When I feel comfortable with my knowledge and understanding, I intend to upgrade the body. I played with both Canons and Nikons a lot and decided on Nikon. I find the quality of the photos to be about equal, but, I like the weight of the Nikon in my grip.

Now, I live in Japan and I have decided to make my first purchase a D90. It felt solid, took some nice pictures when I played with it in the store, and is at a great price. I've read up a lot that I should avoid getting a lens kit; however, I looked up on the three lens kits they had available. This is where I need some help...

I read a lot of negative things about the lens kit that is the D90 plus 18-105mm 3.5-5.6 VR lens. But I read some great reviews for the other two lenses. One being the 18-55mm 3.5-5.6 VR and the other being an 18-200mm 3.5-5.6 IF.

Just the body is roughly $1,000 w/tax included. The lens kit with the 18-55 is about $1,300 and the 18-200mm around $1,700. The price isn't an issue, I was looking to spend roughly $2,000 on my starting setup anyway. What would you all recommend?

Also, I'm looking to start acquiring more lenses after a couple months of familiarizing myself with the camera and getting more experience and education in photography. What other lenses would you recommend?

Thanks in advance! I look forward to sharing some (hopefully) nice pictures with everyone!

I use the D90 with the kit lens and I think it's just fine. Can the optics improve? Sure, but all kit lenses have that going for them, that's why they come so cheap. I had the 18-55 from a D60 and honestly the extra focal length is so much better and you wouldn't notice any difference in IQ. The people that tend to knock it probably spend a lot of time shooting faster glass and using something that only stops down to 3.5 at it's widest isn't that awesome. But I like it and it gets the job done. Hope this helps, you can also check many of the D90 users flickr streams to see what it's capable of.

 

[Eason]

Thanks for the reply. All things considering, I am starting to lean towards the 18-200mm lens kit. It's a bit more expensive but it will give me a lot of range to play around with until I decide what further lenses to buy.

If there are still other opinions on future lenses out there, I sure would appreciate the input! Budget-wise, I'm not looking at acquiring the professional-level lenses but some moderately priced, quality lenses would be a bonus.

Thanks again!

 

[KmH]

Yes, all that is true, but many feel the sharpness of the 18-200 is unacceptable. Nikon had to make to many compromises in it's design because of it's huge focal range. Lots of people are willing to trade sharpness for the convienience a lens having such a large focal length zoom provides.

I would recommend the 18-55 and the 55-200 as the better starting lens set up.

 

[kundalini]

I would recommend the 18-55 and the 55-200 as the better starting lens set up.

That's the two lenses I started out with ((but VR on the 55-200mm). Although they are not the fastest by any means, optically they are rather good. I've never had a problem with changing lenses. And has been mentioned, the longer the focal length in consumer quality zoom lenses, the more IQ or something else will suffer.

I too, would recommend those two lenses with your intentions at the moment.


Welcome to the Dark Side.... bwuahahahaha

 

[Eason]

Thanks for the advice! I'll take a look around my local stores and see what kind of deals I can find with those lenses. All things considering, I still might start with the 18-200 as a walk-around lens. I've got a trip to Bali coming in the near future. I'd like to get in a lot of camera time then.

Again, I appreciate all the help and warm welcome to the Dark Side

 

[lvcrtrs]

Have you searched the forum for D90 to see samples of photos from the different lenses people use? Reveiws are very helpful but examples from everyday people that use the item are helpful as well. I like the 18-105 and have gotten some really sharp results (by the way I have the sharpness set to 7 on the D90). I'd like to use just one lens but the 200 doesn't get out as far as I need it to when I need a long lens.